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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZTUCKER, Orrin(b Robert Orrin Tucker, 17 February 1911, St Louis MO; d 9 April 2011, San Gabriel Valley CA) Bandleader, vocalist. He formed a dance band in 1933 while he was in college in Naperville IL; about 16 hits '39-42 included the smash 'Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!' late '39 for Columbia. CBS had just purchased and revived the classic label and the hit helped put the new red label in the black. The song was from the musical show Follow Me (1916) and had been a hit by Howard Kopp and Frank Banta -- on Columbia. There was a precious 'little girl' vocal by Wee Bonnie Baker (b Evelyn Nelson, 1 January 1918, Orange TX; d 1990 in Florida), for a period effect. The other side of the record had Tucker himself singing Irving Berlin's 'How Many Times'. It sold so many copies that Stan Kavan, who worked in Columbia's Bridgeport factory, could remember the catalog number 65 years later. Tucker appeared playing himself in a 1975 TV movie called Queen of the Stardust Ballroom, and subsequently recreated a Stadust Ballroom in a skating rink on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angelous, leading a band there himself. It closed in 1982. |